SB 



22 



r"? 



Issued February 25, 1SWW. 

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS— BULLETIN 204. 

A. C. TRUE, Director. 



GtS< 



SCHOOL GARDENING AND NATURE STUDY 

U ENGLISH RURAL SCHOOLS 

AND IN LONDON. 



BY 



MISS SUSAN B. SIPE, 

Collaborator, Bureau of Plant Industry. 




WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 
1909. 




flass SB 5£> 



Book__ _. 






1122 



Issued February 25, 1909. 



U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS— BULLETIN 204. 

A. C. TRUE, Director. 






SCHOOL GARDENING AND NATURE STUDY 

IN ENGLISH RURAL SCHOOLS 

AND IN LONDON. 



BY 



MISS SUSAN B. SIPE, 

Collaborator, Bureau of Plant Industry. 




WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 

1909. 




,^\ 



THE OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 

A. C. True, Ph. D., Sc. D., Director. 

E. W. Allen, Ph. D., Assistant Director and Editor of Experiment Station 

Record. 
W. H. Beal, A. B., M. E., Chief of Editorial Division. 
Dick J. Crosby, M. S., Specialist in Agricultural Education. 

204 (2) 



5 1909 
D.ora 



LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL 



U. S. Department of Agriculture, 

Office of Experiment Stations, 
Washington, D. 6'., October 1, 1908. 
Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith a manuscript submit- 
ted by Dr. B. T. Galloway, Chief of the Bureau of Plant Industry, 
for publication as a bulletin of this Office. The manuscript is enti- 
tled "School Gardening and Nature Study in English Rural Schools 
and in London," and was prepared by Miss Susan B. Sipe, teacher 
of botany and nature study in Normal School No. 1 of this city, and 
collaborator of the Bureau of Plant Industry in school-garden work. 
It is a report upon some investigations of methods of teaching nature 
study and school gardening conducted by Miss Sipe in connection 
with a recent visit to Europe. For the successful prosecution of 
these investigations Miss Sipe was much indebted to Mr. T. S. 
Dymond, a member of the board of education for England, and to 
the secretaries of the education committees in the counties visited, 
the county agricultural inspectors, and the principals of the schools 
in London. Through the courtesy of these gentlemen, special oppor- 
tunities for study were afforded Miss Sipe, and it gives her pleasure 
to express her appreciation of their efforts in her behalf. 

The report contains many points of interest to American readers 
concerning methods of teaching nature study and school gardening 
and will supplement her earlier report on school gardens in some 
American cities, published as Bulletin 160 of this Office. I therefore 
recommend that it be published as Bulletin No. 204 of this Office. 

The bulletin contains 15 illustrations which are considered neces- 
sary for the clear understanding of the text. 

Respectfully, A. C. True, 

Director. 
Hon. James Wilson, 

Secretary of Agriculture. 
204 (3) 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

Nature study in the schools of Whitechapel, London 7 

Roof garden, M y rdle Street School 7 

Nature Study Museum, St.-George-in-the-East 8 

Its aims and growth 9 

Its use to schools 9 

The mortuary 10 

Recreation ground and children's garden 13 

Cable Street Scho( >1 13 

Country-in-town exhibition 15 

Plants grown from seeds by London school children 16 

Schools mutual aid scheme 17 

School Nature Study Union 18 

Nature study at the Kentish Town Road School, London 19 

Lessons on Hampstead Heath 19 

Long-distance journeys ■ 20 

Rural school gardens 23 

Agricultural inspectors 23 

Evening school gardens 23 

Day-school gardens 26 

Essex County scheme for gardens 26 

Westfield Council School, Woking, Surrey 30 

Nature observatory 31 

The common garden plat, Oxfordshire 32 

Allotment gardens 32 

Teachers' courses and examination 34 

• Horticultural College, Swanley, Kent 34 

Summer courses 37 

204 (5) 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



Page. 

Fig. 1. "Sallie," the borough lizard 10 

2. "Tom," the borough toad 11 

3. Children's garden at the Nature Study Museum 13 

4. Typical drawing lesson required in L< union schools 14 

5. Water color of alder made from natural spray 15 

6. Water colors of orchid and currants made from the objects 16 

7. Lesson in forestry on Hampstead Heath 19 

8. Lesson on pond life, Hampstead Heath 20 

9. Three-minute observation on the edge of the pond 20 

10. Long-distance vacation journey, Kentish Town Road School, London. 21 

11 . Surrey school garden on very poor soil 24 

12. Surrey school garden on same kind of soil as that shown in figure 11, 

showing the effect of trenching and fertilizers 25 

13. Evening school plats, Westfield Council School garden, Surrey, Eng- 

land 30 

14. Observatory in garden 31 

15. Rural school garden at Culham, Oxfordshire 33 

204 (6) 



SCHOOL GARDENING AND NATURE STUDY IN 
ENGLISH SCHOOLS. 



NATURE STUDY IN THE SCHOOLS OF WHITECHAPEL, LONDON. 

The Whitechapel district of London, with its mass of unemployed 
humanity and with foreigners forming- a large proportion of its popu- 
lation, seems an unpromising place to carry on investigations in 
nature-study teaching. But the investigator is very soon impressed 
with the earnest belief of the "Whitechapel teachers in the immense 
value of nature study in the education of the Jewish and .Russian 
children whom they are training for British subjects, with the spirit 
of self-sacrifice in these underpaid men and women, and with the 
intelligent enthusiasm shown by the children into whose lives comes 
nothing of the beautiful except that brought by the teachers, and 
whose natural environment is smoke, mud, and rain. 

ROOF GARDEN, MYRDLE STREET SCHOOL. 

The head mistress of the Myrdle Street Higher Elementary School, 
Miss M. Brooks, is working out the problem by means of a roof 
garden. This school is one of the newest council schools, a well- 
lighted three-story building with a commodious central hall extend- 
ing to the roof, but with absolutely no ground. The pla} 7 ground is 
on the roof. Miss Brooks is making herculean efforts to bring nature 
interests into this school. The children are being encouraged to 
beautify this playground and to take an intelligent interest in sea- 
sonal gardening operations. In October, 1905, the London county 
council granted permission for an expenditure of 20 shillings to 
purchase boxes to form a garden. Butter tubs were also purchased, 
painted, bored, and raised from the floor, and thus a beginning was 
made. Later the council voted that properly constructed troughs 
should be placed around the roof, and furnished 200 bushels of soil 
to fill these troughs. The plan for the garden was made by Annie 
Lazarus, a pupil in the seventh standard. From her plan a group of 
pupils, directed by one of the teachers, made a model in wood and 
cardboard of what the garden will be in 1910. Each pupil has a 
small space assigned to her in the roof-garden boxes, scarcely more 
than a foot square, but even so, more than she has at home. At the 
time of my visit, in September, 1907, the Virginia creeper in the 
204 (7) 



8 

butter tubs was beginning to climb the protecting wall of the play- 
ground and the marigolds in the boxes were blooming. A turret 
room adjoined the playground. This had been fitted up by the 
council with water-tap sinks and table for experimental work in 
plant life and preparation for the roof gardening. 

On the mistress's desk a miniature forest of oaks was growing in 
a straight-sided aquarium jar. Two years ago a few acorns of 
Quercus pedunculata were planted in it in leaf mold. The children 
watched the germination, the first year's growth, the change of color 
in the autumn, the fall of the leaf, the winter rest, the awakening of 
the buds, and the putting forth of leaves the second year. The little 
trees at the time of my visit had reached the top of the jar, about 10 
or 12 inches high. I asked the ultimate fate of the forest and was 
told the children would be given them to plant at home, if any space 
could be found. 

On the window sills in the hall were some interesting though 
pathetic attempts of these East Side children to grow plants at home. 
The children were asked to bring pots and soil from home in which 
to plant seeds and bulbs. The response proved the scarcity of such 
things in their homes. The teachers then procured the material. 
Seeds were given them and when vacation came the plants were taken 
home to be cared for. The results showed how little the children 
know of plants. In one pot were a half dozen varieties of weeds, the 
original plant having been choked out of existence, but the child 
owner of the pot thought them " so beautiful." Stunted and sickly 
marigolds and nasturtiums gave ample proof of the blighting effect 
of London smoke. 

NATURE-STUDY MUSEUM, ST.-GEORGE-IN-THE-EAST. 

An opportunity to study animal life is found for this school at the 
St.-George-in-the-East Nature Study Mivseum. The museum is the 
offspring of the Stepney Borough Museum, 77 High street, White- 
chapel. The parent museum is a place of much interest. The nucleus 
of it was a gift of a heterogeneous private collection to the Stepney 
borough council by a canon of the Church of England, who resided 
many years in ^liitechapel. This collection was housed at the bor- 
ough library building, and a curator, Miss K. M. Hall, appointed by 
the library and museum committee. Miss Hall is a university gradu- 
ate in science and a social settlement worker of the most practical 
type. Devoting her scientific training to the uplifting of the masses, 
she has developed both a local museum and a nature study museum 
" in the center of one of the blackest spots of the sociologist's magpie 
map of London," which probably have not their counterpart in the 
world. 

204 



ITS AIMS AND GROWTH. 

In her report, published in 1901, when the local museum was in its 
beginning. Miss Hall gives her views of what a borough museum 
should be, stating that as there was no precedent to follow, it rested 
with the committee to make one. Some of these aims are as follows: 

(1) A metropolitan borough museum should exist for the pleasure and in- 
struction of its inhabitants, who pay for it, and as a means of education for 
their children. 

(2) Primarily it should serve as a safe repository for all objects of local 
antiquity and permanent historic interest. 

(3) The aim of the exhibited collection should be to attract judiciously the 
ordinary visitor and inspire him with an interest and enthusiasm for the sub- 
ject illustrated and not weary him with details. 

(4) Apart from its central purpose, the London local museum should aim 
only at being a stepping-stone to the better understanding of our larger national 
museums. 

(5) In the arrangement of the collections the needs of the locality should 
be most carefully considered. It is possible that natural history would form 
one of the most valuable means of general instruction and education, and 
especially so in East London, where man has crowded out most other living 
things. 

(6) The museum should not only be a source of pleasure to the general vis- 
itor ; but in order to carry out its function as a means of general education to 
the children it should be in immediate touch with the schools of the borough, 
and ready to illustrate lessons given in schools. 

(7) Educational authorities can not fail to recognize the advantages which 
would be afforded to their schools by a well-equipped central museum and will, 
without doubt, when applied to, be found willing to bear their share of the 
expense. 

These aims have been rigidly adhered to by Miss Hall. That the 
museum " exists for the pleasure and instruction of its inhabitants 
and to inspire the ordinary visitor with interest in the subject and not 
to weary him with details " is shown by the simple language used in 
labeling the collection, but which at the same time is scientifically ac- 
curate. Local antiquities are well represented. A whale's head found 
ii few feet below the surface of the ground a block or two away, 
fossils and innumerable pieces of pottery unearthed in local excava- 
tions, show the keen interest the laboring classes have in collecting 
for the museum. British sailors in foreign ports remember the 
museum at home and frequently bring living lizards and snakes to 
interest the Whitechapel inhabitants. 

ITS USE TO SCHOOLS. 

The use of the museum to the schools of the borough is incalcu- 
lable. Natural science is a required part of the course of study in 
London schools, but the teachers are allowed freedom in selecting 
the branch of science to be taught in their respective schools. The 

65382— Bull. 204—09 2 



10 

curator of the museum extended invitations to the teachers to outline 
the work they proposed to teach and she in turn would make lists of 
material at the museum available for such lessons. She also expressed 
her willingness to help the teachers by giving demonstration lessons 
at the museum to classes not exceeding forty-five children. An 
observatory hive of living bees, an exhibition of ants, an arrange- 
ment to show the value of the earthworm as a soil mixer, toads, etc., 
were added from time to time. These living exhibits attracted so much 
attention from the nature-starved parents and children of the East 
Side that Miss Hall began plans to expand the " living " side of the 
museum, and soon a circular was issued stating that the committee 
was considering " how an available space in the borough may be 
adapted to form a center for nature study." 




Fig. l.- 



Sallie," the borough lizard. 



the living as a recreation around. 



THE MORTUARY. 

The " available space " was the public mortuary of the parish of 
St.-George-in-the-East, about a mile distant from the museum. 

This mortuary had not been 
used for several years, and an 
anonymous benefactor, prompt- 
ed by the vigilant curator, 
donated £100 to turn the dead- 
house into a museum for the 
living. It is a one-story build- 
ing of two rooms in the corner 
of the old churchyard, which 
also has been turned over to 
On the tiled walls of the mortuary 
in old English script are the following inscriptions : 

" There arc four things which are little upon earth, but they are 
exceeding wise — ants, conies, locusts, spiders." 

" For so work the honey-bees, creatures that by a rule in Nature 
teach the act of order to a peopled kingdom." 

" In Nature's infinite book of secrecy a little I can read." 

" Nature is the art of God." 

The rooms have been heated, fitted up with electric lights, and 
electric motive power furnished for aerating the aquaria. On 
shelves around the walls are large and small tanks containing ani- 
mals and plants of both fresh water and sea water, and vivaria con- 
taining living specimens of lizards, toads, frogs, snakes, worms, and 
ants. " Sallie," the borough lizard (fig. 1.), was brought by a sailor 
from an Italian port. During the hour between 12 and 1 that the 
writer spent in the museum the cages and observational beehive were 

204 



11 



surrounded by men and boys intently watching the activities of the 
animals and insects. A half dozen laborers, resting from their work 
in a street excavation, awkwardly asked permission to feed flies to 
"Tom," the borough toad (fig. 2), and for fifteen minutes in sub- 
dued tones discussed his omnivorous powers. 

A guidebook is for sale for a penny. This gives simple accounts 
of 71 exhibits and a list of books that deal with living land 
and fresh-water animals. An extract from this guidebook may be 
of interest and help to others planning to conduct such work: 

51. Honeyiieks {Apis mellifica). 

From May to the end of September a colony will be exhibited working in 
an observatory hive with glass sides. Visitors should not only look at this 
interesting exhibit once; they should study its inhabitants from day to day 
and they will find them to be a well-ordered community— a state, in fact, 
wherein no citizen exists for itself alone but each for the community : 
" For so work the honeybees, 
Creatures that by a rule in Nature teach, 
The act of order to a peopled kingdom." 

— Henry V, Act I, Scene II. 

The community consists of a single queen or worker, several thousand 
workers, and in summer time a few hundred drones or males. The queen, 
who should be looked for on the 
most crowded comb, may be distin- 
guished by her long, slender body 
with short wings, barely covering 
half her abdomen, whereas the wings 
of the workers nearly cover their 
bodies. Her legs are clad with 
golden yellow hairs and she stands 
higher on the comb than the other 
bees. The drones are broad and 
heavy, with large eye masses and 
very large and powerful wings. 

The wax with which the bees build 
their comb is an excrement which forms under certain conditions of tempera- 
ture in thin minute plates beneath the scales on the underside of the body. 
In the observatory hive there are six combs built by the bees into the wooden 
frames supplied to them. Above the large combs is a space for the bees to put 
their surplus honey. 

The combs hang vertically and consist of two rows of six-sided cells placed 
back to back, having the openings laterally directed. Two sizes of cells are 
built. By far the larger number run five to the inch. These are called worker 
cells, for in them the eggs laid by the queen will develop into workers. They 
may be also used for storing honey and pollen (beebread). Cells of a larger 
size running three to an inch are built as cradles for drones. These are also 
used as storerooms. The cells built for the cradles of royalty are of a peculiar 
shape, having the openings directed downward. 

Bees are important agents in plant fertilization. When visiting flowers to 
suck up honey from the nectaries or honey glands, the pollen gets caught in 
their hairy bodies and is thus carried to other flowers. The honey is carried 
204 




Fig. I'. 



Tom," the borough toad. 



12 

to the hive in the crop. Pollen for beebread is also collected and kneaded into 
small masses and carried home on the hind legs in little depressions called 
" honey bags." 

A good queen, under favorable circumstances, in the height of the season 
will lay 2,000 to 3,000 eggs a day. A single egg only is laid in each cell. It is 
a tiny white speck which may be seen lying in the bottom of each cell. On 
the fourth day a white maggot larva hatches out of it, which is constantly fed 
and attended to by the workers. As it grows it becomes curled around in the 
cell and looks very like a pearl button. On the ninth day it spins a cocoon 
and becomes a chrysalis. The workers cover the cell with a cap of wax mixed 
with pollen. On the twenty-first day, the young bee, having acquired during 
her chrysalis sleep her wings, legs, eyes, etc., eats off the roof of her cell and 
pushes her way into the world. Drones take twenty-four to twenty-eight 
days to develop and queens seventeen to nineteen. The broad cells will be 
found in the center of the comb and are usually darker. 

All the facts mentioned above may be seen in this hive by any visitor, and 
as the bees have free access to the garden they may be watched at work on 
the flowers. 

Simplicity and interesting facts characterize this description as 
they do all others in the catalogue. 

This nature-study museum is placed at the disposal of schools dur- 
ing school hours. Though it is stated to be open to the public during 
some of these hours, it is closed to them should the collections be 
needed for educational purposes. It has come to be the greatest of 
inspirations in a study so difficult at first hand in London. Miss 
Hall wrote. shortly after its formation : 

Primarily I hope to make a nature museum which shall be a source of joy 
for us in East London, if only a small one. I hope teachers will use it them- 
selves and bring their pupils to see it. I hope for small bodies of pupils from 
neighboring schools to come once or twice a week and make notes and sketches 
following the changes in any particular group they may wish to study. 

Miss Hairs wish is being realized. One thousand children from 
the schools were given lessons by her in November. The children's 
appreciation of the venture is the most important testimony. Their 
point of view is given in the following extracts taken at random 
from a chance set of compositions of the girls of the Myrdle Street 
School : 

If I were not to go to the nature study museum, I should not know much 
about nature. 

I am glad that I go there, for I never have a chance of seeing these animals 
elsewhere. 

I like to go there because everything is real except the birds, and they were 
real birds. 

The Italian toad, sits in a little pot of water and hardly moves when we look 
at him ; he snaps at us as if he wants to eat us. 

We can learn a great deal at the museum. We see how lizards change their 

skins, how fishes breathe, and how frogs do all sorts of things. We learn how 

birds live. The bees can be seen making their honey, how snails crawl out of 

their shells, how worms live, and how the queen bee is different from her sub- 

204 



13 



jects. The moth is seen as a chrysalis and the ants are seen at work. The 
tishes are most interesting to me and they swallow the water they breathe. 

The reasons why we like these are because we need not talk about insects 
and animals without seeing, but when we learn all about them we can see it 
with our own eyes. 

RECREATION GROUND AND CHILDREN'S GARDEN. 

The recreation ground in which this museum is located was origi- 
nally the churchyard of St.-George-in-the-East. As an American 
enters it through a narrow 7 passageway by the side of the church he 
has to revise his definition of a " recreation ground.''' It is as quiet 
as the original churchyard, though well patronized, but patronized 
in midday by sleeping men and women on the benches and the low 
sills of the church windows. The 
tombstones have been removed, but 
only as far as the high wall bordering 
the churchyard. The flower beds, 
lawns, and trees are pleasing, and in 
its restful seclusion it stands in 
strange contrast to the mass of hope- 
less, discontented people without. 

In one corner of the grounds is the 
children's garden (fig. 3) started by 
Miss Hall, and which probably gives 
the children of this crowded district 
their only opportunity to plant in the 
ground. Last year an experimental 
arbor day was held, when the mayor, 
aldermen, and councilors attended in 
state and planted several specimen 
trees. A large number of school chil- 
dren were present. During the cere- 
mony the mayor stood on the bed where bulbs had been planted in the 
fall. One of the children, in distress, spoke to Miss Hall about it, 
" Ask him to step off," said Miss Hall, and much to his surprise he 
was invited to do so. A borough councilor speaks of this nature- 
study museum as " a little temple of nature in the least romantic and 
most commercial center of the metropolis which has stimulated 
interest in the nature-study movement alike among borough council- 
ors, the public, and local schools." Its destiny seems greater to the 
writer, for its influence has reached across the Atlantic in its short 
period of existence. 

CABLE STREET SCHOOL. 

On the other side of the very high wall surrounding the recreation 
ground is the Cable Street Public School. Mr. Winkworth, the head 

204 




pk 



3. — Children's garden at the 
Nature Study Museum. 



14 



master, has tried every means at his command to have the wall re- 
moved to give his school easy access to the grounds and the museum. 
So high is the wall that it shuts out every vestige of green from the 
school, and so winding the alleys and streets that it takes ten minutes 
to reach the museum. So far he has met with no success. Mr. Wink- 
worth is an expert botanist who has the unusual faculty of imparting 
his knowledge and his enthusiasm to his teachers and pupils. He 
spends his week-end vacations in the country, returning laden with 
material. His method develops investigation in his pupils. Every 
Monda} 7 morning some item for study and investigation is placed in 
the main hall in full view of the children passing to and from the 
class rooms. During the fall season, when nature is scattering her 

seed, he hung up his bicycle leg- 
gings, covered with sticking seed, 
for the children to make discov- 
eries of nature's methods of seed 
dissemination. Another week a 
cocoon with a large label, " What 
is it? " aroused the questioning 
spirit. The writer visited the 
school when the country outside 
of London was covered with 
heather. Three varieties had 
been brought in, in abundance, 
and then a botanical classifica- 
tion chart was hung up. The 
children were expected to find 
out the names for themselves. 
A cabinet in one corner of the 
hall is filled with minerals, 
shells, fossils, and birds' nests; 
but, unlike the average school 
cabinet, the collections are not 
constantly on view. The doors 
of the cabinet have green curtains which may be lowered or raised. 
During seasons when material is available in the fields, or whenever 
the master thinks interest in the collection is waning, the curtains are 
lowered. There is always renewed interest when the collection is 
reexhibited. In connection with the nature work, selections from the 
best poets are memorized. 

The most remarkable work developed in the schools is probabty the 
painting in water colors. Most of it is flower and fruit work painted 
from the material, a great advance in London, where copying and 
enlarging or decreasing outline copies are the principal forms em- 

204 




Pig. 4. — Typical drawing lesson required iu 
London schools. Tupils are required to 
copy carefully in pencil the printed ex- 
ample, increasing the height about 1 inch 
and the width in proportion. No ruling 
or measuring of any kind is allowed, and 
the copy must not be marked in any way. 



15 



ployed (fig. 4). The master exhibits with pride the stages of the 
opening of the horse-chestnut buds, the catkins of the alder (fig. 5), 
plums of different varieties, orchids painted by children from 10 
to 12 years of age that would do credit to the graduating classes 
of many of our high schools (fig. 6). The Jewish children are par- 
ticularly adept. He has discovered and developed latent talent to 
such a degree that he has had no difficulty in securing positions for the 
boys, as they leave school, in stained-glass establishments or as jewelry 
and poster designers. This independence of thought on the part of 
the teacher is not confined to nature 
study and drawing, but is felt in 
history, geography, and all subjects 
taught in his school. 

COUNTRY-IN-TOWN EXHIBITION. 

With individuals vitally interested in 
bringing nature into the slums of Lon- 
don, it is but a step to organized effort. 
A country-in-town exhibition was held 
in the Whitechapel Art Gallery dur- 
ing the first two weeks of July. I 
quote from a booklet issued in its 
interest : 

To be blind and deaf to nature is to be 
in the current phrase " defective " — to lack, 
one of the senses that God gave to man. and 
through which He speaks to man. There is no 
sadder sight in the world than to see a crowd 
of town-bred men and women wandering 
forlornly through beautiful scenery search- 
ing for the nearest public house * * *. 
Thousands of us — men, women, and chil- 
dren — are tied to our duties and have to live 
in the heart of great towns. It is mockery to tell poor, hard-worked people 
that they should go away to see flowers and green fields. They can not. The 
only thing is to bring the flowers and green fields to them, in the form of parks, 
gardens, or even window boxes. Much has been done of late years and much 
would be done but for the smoke. It is the object of this exhibition both to 
show what has been done by some and to encourage others to do more. 

Collections of wild flowers were exhibited by two country schools ; 
paintings of wild flowers and nature studies by many of the schools 
in London ; collections of flowers and shrubs suitable for growing in 
London parks ; a model back yard and garden showing on a reduced 
scale what might be done in an ordinary London back yard at little 
expense; a model recreation ground, 21 feet square, constructed to 
illustrate the many health-giving opportunities which might be intro- 

204 




Fig. 5. — Water color of alder made 
from natural spray by a Russian 
Jew, 9 years old, Cable Street 
School. 



16 

duced into public grounds under good management and good plan- 
ning. Among other things, the model dealt with sleeping out of 
doors under methods by which children can manage their tents and 
beds as soldiers do. The plan and model of a roof garden for a 
school, designed by Annie Lazarus, of the Myrdle Street School, 
attracted much attention. 



I 'LA NTS GROWN FROM SEEDS BY LONDON SCHOOL CHILDREN. 

The most striking feature was a large collection of plants grown 
from seeds by London school children. This special exhibit is of 

peculiar interest to us, having 
been inspired by Mr. T. S. 
Dymond, member of the board 
of education, South Kensington, 
after a visit to the children's 
flower shows held in the schools 
of Washington, D. C. In an 
address to teachers on the 
"American " method he said : 

In the schools of Washington, 
D. C, the practical study of plant 
life is carried on by a means which 
I think might be adopted in our 
own cities. The lecturer on natural 
science in the normal school has 
succeeded in inducing all the schools 
of the city to cooperate in a scheme 
whereby the children are all asked 
to grow something. Whether it be 
in a little garden, or a back yard, 
or a window box, or a flower pot, 
each child grows something, and on 
one day in the summer the chil- 
dren bring the plant, or a flower, or 
the fruit, or some evidence that they 
have grown it, to exhibitions at their 
schools. The Department of Agricul- 
ture supplies the seed free. Now, this is a form of nature study that might be 
carried out even in this great city of London. It occurred to me that five or six 
London schools might care to make the experiment, and I have ascertained that 
if it were done space would be afforded at the country-in-town exhibition for 
the display of those of the children's exhibits which were considered worthy of 
the distinction. Of course, the scheme would need careful consideration, and a 
committee should be formed to settle details. It is quite possible that the seed 
would be supplied free by some friend of the country-in-town movement. 

The plan has proved so successful in Washington, and it was so delightful to 
see the crowds (if children, each with something that he or she had grown, that 
I venture to hope it may be tried here. 

204 




Fig. 0. — Water colors of orchid and currants 
made from the objects by a Russian Jew 
buy in Whitechapel School. Show advanced 
thought on part of teacher over the re- 
quired method of drawing in London schools. 



17 

The teachers acted upon his suggestion. A well-known seed dealer 
of Reading gave 6,000 packets of seed for distribution in the schools 
by the teachers. Lessons were given on seed sowing and the pots 
then carried home for window-sill cultivation. Xo prices were 
given. Exhibits were classified as : 

(1) Plants raised from seed — 

(a) Supplied through the schools. 

(&) Supplied through the School Nature Study Union. 

(2) Pot plants — cared for by the children for not less than eight weeks pre- 

vious to the exhibition. 

(3) Home plants — cared for by the children for not less than eight weeks pre- 

vious to the exhibition. 

All exhibits were labeled with the name of the school, name, age, 
and standard (grade) of the exhibitor, name of plant, date of sowing 
or acquisition of the plant, and the signature of the head teacher. 
Thirty schools applied for seeds. Of these, twenty-five schools sent 
in exhibits. The exhibition was most successful. It was visited by 
30,000 people. 

SCHOOLS MUTUAL AID SCHEME. 

Another feature of the country-in-town exhibition was the 
schools mutual aid scheme. 

This scheme was inaugurated shortly before Christmas, 1906, for the pro- 
motion of correspondence in connection with nature study, between town and 
country schools, and by the middle of June, 1907, included twenty-three 
couples of schools in London and the provinces. 

Each country school included in the scheme sends parcels of the commonest 
objects suitable for nature study to a town school, the objects, or similar 
ones, having been previously used for a lesson by the senders. The speci- 
mens include, among many others, common wild flowers with their leaves in 
sufficient quantity to provide each child of a class with one specimen of the 
same flower; common grasses, fruits and seeds; shells; creatures, such as 
caterpillars, which can be kept for study in confinement without cruelty, etc. 
It is requested that no birds' eggs or nests be sent (except such as have been 
deserted), and no harmless creatures killed, or rare plants uprooted, for the 
purpose of the correspondence. 

Town schools send in exchange letters giving interesting details of town 
life, especially of zoological gardens, museums, etc., picture post cards, news- 
paper cuttings, and magazines, previously inspected by the teachers ; speci- 
mens from factories, etc. 

Photographs of a town school examining the specimens sent from 
their corresponding country school, drawings made by the town 
schools, and specimen letters graphically illustrated this helpful 
cooperation. 

65382— Bull. 204—09 — —3 



18 

SCHOOL NATURE STUDY UNION. 

The success of this exhibit was largely due to the School Nature 
Study Union. This is an organization largely of teachers, with a 
membership of 429 the last year. 

The union aims at bringing together, for mutual help and advice, 
those interested in nature study in general and its place in education 
in particular. This it proposes to do by the following means : 

(1) Monthly meetings in winter, at which papers will be read by specialists 

on various aspects of nature study, the papers to be followed by 
discussions. 

(2) Excursions in summer, for purposes of practical nature study. 

(3) The publication, three times a year, of an official organ, entitled " School 

Nature Study," containing general reports of the work of the union, 
resumes of the papers read at the monthly meetings, and other matters 
of interest. 

(4) The provision of information, through the above organ or by occasional 

leaflets, concerning : 

(«) Suitable localities for excursions, museums, etc.; 

(b) The supply of books, apparatus, and specimens; 

(c) Other facilities for nature study, such as vacation courses. 

(5) An annual conference, at which it is hoped leaders in education will 

open the discussions. 

(6) Cooperation with other societies whose work may touch that of the 

union at any point. 

(7) The encouragement of the provision of nature study courses for 

teachers. 

The union is growing steadily, both indoor and outdoor meetings 
are largely attended, and on the completion of its third year, in 190G, 
it was admitted as an associated society of the British Association 
for the Advancement of Science. The fee for membership is 2 
shillings, which includes the official organ, School Nature Study, 
an interesting publication containing resumes of lectures, proposed 
study courses, programmes for outdoor excursions in spring and 
summer, and leaflets after those of Cornell and Hampton. A copy 
of the rambles for 1907 is given below, with the thought that Ameri- 
can teachers would do well to follow the example of the union : 

SUMMER PROGRAMME. 

The following nature study rambles have been arranged for members only 
on the following Saturday afternoons: 

(1) April 27, to Leatherhead for Boxbill. 

Object: The study of scenery with special reference to the work 

done by the river mole. 
Leader: Mr. G. G. Lewis. 

(2) May 25, to Cheshunt. 

Object: Although the chief purpose of the expedition is to study 

pond inhabitants and the conditions of life in the pond, special 

stress will be laid on ways and means of keeping pond animals 

in aquaria in schoolrooms for purposes of continued observation. 

Leader : Miss C. von Wvss. 
204 



19 



(3) June 15, to Hainault Forest. 

Object: To consider the following features: 

(a) The rapid spread of certain native plants when once nature 

is left to herself. 

(b) The dependence of herbage upon the geological character 

of the subsoil. 

(c) Nature the master; abortive attempts to improve the 

herbage. 

(d) Wind as an enemy of trees. 

(e) What the cattle are doing to modify the natural forest 

growth. 
(/) The grasses natural to the forest and how one grass may 
be an enemy to all others. 
Leaders: Mr. T. S. Dymond, H. M. I., and Mr. F. Dent. 

(4) July 13, to Caterham. 

Object: A further study of plants found on chalky soils. 
Leaders: Miss K. M. Hall and Miss Foxlee. 

(5) September 21, to Kew Gardens. 

Object : The study of trees. 

Leader: The director of the Royal Gardens, Lieutenant-Colonel 
Train, M. B., C. I. E., F. R. S. 



NATURE STUDY AT THE KENTISH TOWN ROAD SCHOOL, LONDON. 

The present head master of this school is Mr. G. G. Lewis. It is 
one of the old schools of London, with many classes in one room. Mr. 
Lewis encourages 
original investiga- 
tion among his 
boys. He gives 
them suggestive 
lists of problems 
they may study 
out of school hours 
in plant growing, 
in the aquarium, 
and in soil forma- 
tion. Prizes are 
awarded for the 
papers showing in- 
dependent work. 




Fig. 7. — Lesson in forestry on Ilarnpstead Heath. 



LESSONS ON HAMPSTEAD HEATH. 

Hampstead Heath is a mile away. But here geography, botany, 
and animal life are taught (figs. 7 and 8). The new code allows 
classes to be taken for outdoor trips of not less than an hour and a 
half. The classes are large, 40 in each. Each class is taken out once 
in five weeks. There are many ponds on Hampstead Heath which 

204 



20 




Fig. 8. — Lesson on pond life, Ilampstead Heath. 



provide material for geography lessons for the younger boys. Capes, 
bays, islands, straits, and isthmuses are available for illustration. 
The bed of the Fleet River, a tiny stream, provides material for les- 
sons on " Pebbles 
and how they are 
formed," "'The 
mud and where il 
comes from," and 
" Sand and clay." 
The boys are fa- 
miliar with the 
trees of the heath 
and the life of the 
water. An exercise 
they all enjoy is to 
lie down on the 
bank of the stream 
for three minutes 
and report their observations (fig. 9). However, a large proportion 
of the time is devoted to earth lore, partly because the teachers, being 
men, know more of physiography than of botany or biology, and 
partly as a preparation for the scenery study on Saturdays, during 
the Easter a n d 
summer vacations. 

LONG-DISTANCE 
JOURNEYS. 

Schools in Eng- 
land have but a 
month's vacation. 
A teacher w h o 
gives eight or ten 
days of his holi- 
day to conducting 
thirty or forty boys 
on a tramp into 
Wales, with the 
combined purposes 
of teaching them how to spend a holiday rationally and usefully and 
to arouse their interest in nature, is truly a missionary. This Mr. 
Lewis has been doing for ten years. (See fig. 10.) 

Physical improvement is attained by eight days' outdoor life, and 
the brown faces of the boys and the pleased remarks of the parents 
testify to evident good results, 

204 




Fir., o. — Three-minute observation on the edse of the pond. 



21 



To fully appreciate the moral results, it is almost necessary to spend the 
week with the boys. Acts of kindness one to another; daily converse with 
teachers and comrades; the necessity of helping themselves, and the partaking 
of pleasure without an admixture of • hooliganism, did more than years of 
ordinary school life would do in fostering habits of good-fellowship, self-reli- 
ance, and unselfishness, and taught the children how to spend a holiday 
intelligently and happy. 

The trip the past spring cost 23 shillings. Of the 12 who took 
the trip at Easter, 13 were helped by a board of managers. 

The following is a brief outline of the work done during the 1907 
Kentish town road excursion 
to the Welsh marches: 

Saturday, March 30. Journey 
Down — Malvern Hills. 

A special corridor was attached 
to the rear of the 0.45 a. m. train 
from Paddington, and the boys 
were soon tracing their route on 
the map supplied in their guide- 
book, noting the outline of the 
hills they passed, and observ- 
ing the bends and banks of the 
Thames and its tributaries. By 
permission of the G. W. R. the 
journey was broken at Great 
Malvern, topcoats being left in 
the "corridor," which was locked 
up and shunted into a siding 
while the Beacon was climbed. 
Here the lads encountered igne- 
ous rock in situ for the first time 
in their lives, and they were 
much interested in finding hills 
made of hard quartz, feldspar, 
and hornblende instead of the clays and sands they encounter during open-air 
lessons on Hampstead Heath. It was too misty to recognize all of the 13 
counties — and goodness knows how many battlefields, cathedrals, and towns 
which are said to be visible from this old Armada Beacon — but the youngest 
boy could not help seeing that Herefordshire in the west was very hilly, while 
the Severn Plain in the east was a most decided and extensive plain, and an 
attempt was made to explain the why and wherefore by the aid of diagrams 
in the guidebook in a short ten-miante lesson. 

Good specimens of quartz, hornblende, schist, gneiss, chlorite, and diorite were 
obtained from the numerous quarries on the hillside, after which a descent 
was made to the uptilted Silurian rocks, which yielded very beautiful fossil 
corals. Tea was taken at Colwall Temperance Hotel before taking the train 
for Abergavenny, which was visited at 9 p. m. Here a hot supper and a 
warm welcome awaited the boys, and before 11 p. m. they were all safely 
tucked in bed. 
204 




Fig. 10. — Lonjr-distanee vacation journey, 
Kentish Town Road School, London. 



99 



WORK DONE. 

1. Boys taught bow to turn a railway journey to profitable account. 

2. Introduction to igneous rocks and tbe scenery they produce. 

".. Fossil corals obtained and formation of coralline limestones explained. 
4. Igneous rock specimens secured. 

^ # :■: ♦ sk % • H* 

The following extract from a report in the Brecon County Times is 
interesting as showing how the long distance journey strikes one 
who is not a teacher : 

The schoolmaster was abroad to good purpose; mountain and pass, hill and 
dingle, river and rivulet, forest and hedgerow, lake and meadow, cave and 
cromlech, church and castle, ancient road and modern rail — all were laid under 
tribute for the educational intake of the week. Tbe writer's recollection of 
history lessons in early years is a hotchpotch of memorized names and dates, 
with which examination papers were to be liberally bestrewn; a kindred vice 
being practiced under the name of geography. But to the participants in the 
educational excursions the scholastic dry bones will leap into vigorous and 
ordered life, as in the seer's vision. These lads have trodden mountains stand- 
ing proudly aloft from insinuating rivers at their feet; and day after day 
uttered speech, as church and castle, hill and field and stream, proclaimed their 
own history to greedy ears. Here the signal hill, there the battlefield, yonder 
the tomb ; and in the story of the conflict of nationalities along the Welsh 
marches the boys will surely learn to appreciate their share in an imperial 
heritage, and incidentally to abstain from treading on a Welshman's corns. 
There are many things in life to be striven for; but Laocoon is not spelled with a 
double " L."- The application of common sense to tbe spending of holidays 
is another fruit that grows on the Easter tree; and we confidently predict that 
no tourist will be found in later years si lending bis fortnight per annum on 
a switchback railway. The countryside becomes full of meaning as tbe boys 
assimilate the instruction of their nature teachers, who give practical illustra- 
tions beneath the branches of oak, ash, and thorn, and gather specimens of 
anemone, marsh marigold, celandine, and golden saxifrage. The open-air 
work is all in favor of vigorous health; and the "common-room" living of 
boys and masters promotes good feeling all round. Let the Easter educational 
excursions flourish and abound. Their merits are so patent that to seek out 
weaknesses would be worse than hunting the needle in the bottle of hay. 

Below are given a boy's impressions of a visit to the forest of Dean : 

It was a beautiful morning when our party awoke, and to our great surprise 
we had been mistaken for college boys. We therefore tried to look like them 
for the rest of the week. Our journey to the forest of Dean took us to Lydney, 
tbe port of the forest, and it was the only place that seemed to me like London, 
owing to the smoke from the works. One of the forest keepers met us at the 
station, and led us up the Roman road to the Speech House. I enjoyed the 
climb, and a balloon floated over us for many hours of the day. The Speech 
House must be very old, as it was built by Charles II. Our guide said that 
his ancestors had lived in the forest for generations. At any rate, he knew 
a lot about trees and animals. AVhen we reached the coal mine it gave me a 
chance to obtain some lovely fossils I had longed for. What a lot of shale the 
men had to get out to obtain the coal. It was like a great mountain, and 
204 



23 

very steep to descend. It was funny to be able to pick the pictures of ferns 
and plants in the shale, that grew many thousands of years ago. We were 
industrious for an hour or more, picking away like miners at work. On getting 
home that night we felt richer in fossils, hut jolly tired and sleepy. 

SURAL SCHOOL GARDENS. 

In connection with the country schools there are in England about 
1,000 school gardens with perhaps 300 more evening school gardens 
for boys who have left school. A school report for 1905-G, just pub- 
lished, says that at least 32 counties have day school and 22 maintain 
evening school gardens. Some of the counties give liberal grants' for 
the work. Others practice much economy. 

AGRICULTURAL INSPECTORS. 

Each county has its agricultural inspector, a class of most earnest 
men, poorly paid, whose work seems only to be limited by the num- 
ber of hours in a day. They inspect and often instruct in all the 
schools throughout their respective counties, lecture on Saturdays and 
evenings to teachers preparing for examination, and carry out a most 
detailed system of marking day and evening school gardens, allot- 
ment gardens, and judging flower shows. The writer spent a day 
with one who frequently rode 100 miles a day on his bicycle, inspect- 
ing schools, and then lectured at night. As they ride over the county 
roads on their visits of inspection they are called into the wayside 
gardens to identify varieties of apples, gooseberries, currants, etc., 
and to suggest cultural methods after the manner of a country doc- 
tor. There is a natural aptitude for plant culture and a widespread 
amount of plant-life information among the villages and rural dwell- 
ers of England, so the agricultural inspector must hold the confidence 
of the cottagers, allotment holders, and farmers. They are there- 
fore well-equipped men. Their knowledge is clear and certain. They 
plan the school gardens and seem to feel that the results should be 
the best obtainable, even though the workers are children, else the 
parents will not be in sympathy with the work. 

EVENING SCHOOL GARDENS. 

Evening school gardens, or " continuation gardens," were the first 
form of school gardens in England, begun in Surrey in 1892. As 
their name implies, they were intended for " lads otherwise em- 
ployed during the day, to instruct them in the principles and prac- 
tice involved in the successful cultivation of cottage and allot- 
ment garden. " The teachers are usually the teacher or gardener 
Avho conducts the clay school classes and who gives strictly practical 

204 



24 

lessons twice a week. Each boy has his own plat, " all useful crops 
being represented on it to show how the most and best can be made 
from the land/' The produce of each plat belongs to the pupil and in 
addition prizes are given, based on marks of merit, for good work- 
manship, orderly arrangement and condition of crops, and for neat- 
ness of plats, edgings, and paths. (See figs. 11 and 12.) 

The greatest number of marks are given for the more important 
crops and superior cultural attention, as, for example, up to 10 marks 
can be obtained for each of the following 7 subjects: 

Cleanliness and good workmanship, judgment and order in crop- 
ping, peas, potatoes, winter greens (including savoys, Brussels 
sprouts, kale, and broccoli), flowers, and berry fruits. 




Pig. 11. — Surrey school garden on very poor soil. 

Up to 8 marks each for 11 serviceable crops: Broad beans, run- 
ner and dwarf kidney beans, beets, cabbage (cooking), cauliflowers, 
onions, turnips, carrots, parsnips, and vegetable marrows. 

Up to G marks each for asparagus, celery, cucumbers, leeks, let- 
tuce, rhubarb, seakale, tomatoes. 

Up to 1 marks each for artichokes (globe and tuberous), cabbages 
(red), shallots, spinach, herbs (including parsley, mint, sage, etc.), 
radishes and small salads, and others not enumerated. 

These marks are carefully given by the county inspector, a county 
average is made, and the teacher's salary is regulated by the relation 

204 



25 

of his school's marks to this average. Paragraph 17 in the code of 
instruction in practical horticulture, issued by the Surrey education 
committee, states that the teacher's emoluments take the form of fees 
and merit grants. The fees are 3 shillings for each cultivated plat 
for the full season. As the number is limited to 14, the fees are 
not high. The merit grants are determined by marks obtained by the 
gardens in each center and their relation to the county average. Plats 
gaining 15 or more above the average receive 3 shillings; 10 marks, 
2s. 6d. ; 5 marks, 2 shillings ; equal to the average, Is. 6d. ; and not 
more than 10 marks below 1 shilling. Frequently an extra award of a 
medal or silver watch and chain is made the teacher of the school that 
has the best garden, the owner of such garden being known as the 
" county premier." 



BHHLwi -jtfft— 2_£ 


is^Sgs^SfHttBr:^- 






r 






V : '''^»T5-' '••.••."'■ l*"^ 


^' v ; &>Vtf i; -/- ; 


I Si -*■*' -"V- • '* v T™Bftta» i j 1 *^ ■**'■ r •v* i~* i_iA- •SSL*--* 

m~Mm : - vmi& Mm 










it/- ..-.■ "■*•--'.• *^ j -'. 




* x -SJST 







Fig. 12. — Surrey school garden on same kind of soil as that shown in figure 11, showing 
the effect of trenching and fertilizers applied intelligently and judiciously hy the boys 
under direction of teacher. 



The county of Surrey is probably far in advance of other counties 
in the extent of its school-garden work. This is in part due to its lib- 
erality in educational expenditure by the county council and in part 
to the inspector for the county, Mr. John Wright. Wherever garden- 
ing has an acknowledged status Mr. Wright is known as an authority. 
In 1890 Mr. Wright won a prize offered by the Worshipful Company 
of Fruiterers for the best essay, entitled " Profitable fruit growing for 
cottagers and others with small holdings." The seventh edition of 
this essay is still finding a ready sale. He was one of the first recip- 
ients of the Victoria commemoration medal for services rendered in 



204 



26 

horticulture during the Queen's reign, and holds with this the free- 
dom of the city of London. In 1891 he began to lecture to school- 
teachers, and through his efforts gardens were later provided on the 
estate of P. Robertson Roger for day-school boys. There are now over 
1,000 boys cultivating plats in the country. Mr. Wright has worked 
untiringly for the movement, and now, as he is advancing in years, 
his son, Horace Wright, is taking the burden of the work. Mr. 
Wright's comprehensive knowledge of gardening and his readiness of 
pen have made him invaluable in promoting the movement. His re- 
port on the first and the last garden in the ranking of 1905 is ap- 
pended : 

Synopsis of Evening School Gardens. 

1. Hale. — Twelve gardens. Average merit, 139 marks. A remarkable group, 
which for the sixth time heads the county list. Crops luxuriant and order 
nearly, but not quite, perfect. Group leader and county premier, Andrew Trim- 
ming, with the unexampled number of 149 marks; lowest plat, 120 marks, or ex- 
ceeding the highest over a period of the first seven years of his teaching. The 
site was for years absolutely barren ; it is now astonishingly productive in 
comparison. Still, the Hale youths must not be vain, for half of them lost 1 
mark each through a lack of absolute cleanliness or high finish. These gardens 
now possess an advantage over most others. Water is laid on with something 
in it ; but this was only secured by persistent effort, and the success achieved is 
richly deserved by Mr. E. Caesar, schoolmaster. 

14. Hersham. — Nine gardens. Some station must fall last on the list, and 
this year it is sandy Hersham. Why? It is not the fault of the land, the 
weather, the seeds, or the teacher. Of this there is conclusive proof. Alongside 
the evening-school gardens there are day-school plats. Both sets were supplied 
alike and both are worked under the same teacher, yet while the last named 
rank among the best gardens in the county, the others bring up the rear in their 
section. The cause of their weakness is cricket. The youths start well, but as 
the season advances they can not get past the village green on the way to their 
plats. However, this station affords a great lesson— land and materials wasted 
through negligent or slipshod methods on the one hand, and through attentive 
cultural care on right lines, admirable order, and productiveness on the other. 
Thus Hersham is a most instructive station after all. Mr. Vaux, the owner of 
the land, is a good and valued helper. He has provided bricks for edging the 
whole of the gardens, which have been well set anglewise, forming a neat ridged 
margin, by his gardener, Mr. A. Skeet, local teacher. 

DAY-SCHOOL GARDENS. 
ESSEX COUNTY SCHEME FOR GARDENS. 

A few extracts from the code of 1905 and from the scheme for 
school gardens, published by the Essex education committee, will 
give the best understanding of regulations and methods of work of a 
large majority of the rural day-school gardens and will be in many 
ways suggestive to our own teachers. Plan II is designed for two 
workers, a senior and a junior, a plan carried out successfully in 
many places. 

204 



27 

Extract from Schedule III to the Code (1905). 

(1) No attendance's ImiI those of boys over 11 years of age arc recognizable 
for the special grant. 

(2) There must be at least one teacher for every fourteen scholars. 

(3) Each lesson in gardening should last for at least one hour. 

(4) Not more than one grant of 4 shillings or two grants of 2 shillings will be 
paid in respect of any one scholar for the same special subjects year. 

SIZE AND SHAPE OF PLATS. 

In order to provide for the cultivation of a variety of vegetables, it is most 
desirable, to divide the land into rather long and narrow plats, at least three 
times as long as wide. A plat of 1 rod will generally be sufficient for each pupil. 
The actual measuring of the ground ought to be carried out by the boys them- 
selves as a preliminary lesson. It is preferable to arrange that the rows of 
plants shall run from north to south, in order that full exposure to sunlight may 
be obtained on all sides. 

DEMONSTRATION PLATS. 

In addition to the plats allotted to the scholars, others are desirable for 
demonstration purposes. Thus, plats of about 1 rod each would serve for the 
raising of vegetables and flowers for transplanting, for the propagation of bush 
fruits, and for the culture of strawberries. A larger plat for the culture of 
apple, pear, and plum trees should be provided where practicable. These 
should be under the teacher's charge, and will serve a useful purpose by provid- 
ing scope for demonstrations in sowing, transplanting, propagating, pruning, 
and spraying. Paths of 2 feet in width are necessary between the plats. 

TOOLS, ETC. 

Tools, seeds, fruit bushes, and manure will be provided by the county educa- 
tion committee. The plats will be periodically inspected, and note will also be 
made of the state of the tools. It is an essential part of the training to impress 
the importance of care and cleanliness with regard to these. 

DISPOSAL OF PRODUCE. 

The disposal of the produce will rest with the head teacher. It may be prac- 
ticable in some cases to offer part of the crops as prizes, and the remainder 
may be sold at current prices. 

204 



28 



PLAN I. 

Suggested plan of cropping for a first year. 
[Scale, 1 inch = 6 feet.] 



2 feet . 



2 feet 6 inches. 



2 feet 



2 feet . 



2 feet . 



2 feet . 



2 feet C inches . 



3 feet . 



3 feet . 



1 foot 3 inches. 
1 foot 3 inches. 

lfoot 

6 inches 

1 foot 



4 feet . 



Single row of runner beans. 



Savoy cabbage. i 
Early potatoes. 



Brussels sprouts. a 
Late potatoes. 



Curled kale. a 
Broad beans. 



Cauliflower. 



Cabbage. 



Peas. 



Lettuce on ridge. 
Celery. 



Radishes on ridge. 
Parsnips. 



Beets. 



Carrots. 



Onions. 



Path. 



Flower border 



'.I feel. 



" These green crops will be planted soon after the potatoes are earthed up. 



204 



29 



PLAN II. 

[Scale, 1 inch=6 feet.] 



Double row of 
I leet. runner beans. 


Double row of 2 j t 
peas. 


6 feet 6 inches. 3 rows of 


Potatoes. f> feet 6 inches. 


2 feet 6 inches. 

Cauliflower. 


2 feet. 
Broad beans. 


2 feet. 
Savoy cabbage. 


2 feet. 

Cabbage. 


2 feet 6 inches. 
Brussels sprouts. 


Lettuce on ridge. 
3 feet. 

Celery. 


2 feet 6 inches. 
Kale. 


Radishes on ridge. 
3 feet. 

Dwarf beans. 


2 feet. 
Broccoli. 


1 foot 6 inches. 

Parsnips. 


2 feet 6 inches. 
Early peas. 


1 foot 3 inches. 

Beets. 


1 foot 3 inches. 

Carrots. 


2 feet. 
Turnips. 


1 foot Onions. 


6 inches. 


6 inches. 


1 foot 6 inches. 

Path. 


1 foot 6 inches. 
Path. 


4 feet. Flower 


border. 4 feet. 



18 feet. 



204 



30 

In the day-school gardens the disposal of the crops rests with the 
head teacher. These he may sell as an addition to his salary, use on 
his table, or offer as prizes to the boys who cultivate them. The 
natural outcome of the teachers' rewards and the marking system is 
that many teachers lose sight of the chief object of growth in the 
garden — the child, mentally, morally, and physically — but keep 
prominently to the front the production of the best broad beans, 
shallots, vegetable marrow, etc. They feel that the produce of the 
children's gardens must surpass that of their parents in their cottage 
gardens or there is no value in gardening in the school curriculum. 
The matter resolves itself into a match between teachers and parents 
and the children are lost in the contest. Children can not reach 




Fig. 13. — Evening school plats, Westfield Council School garden, Surrey, England. 

perfection. • The teacher and parent have reached their height 
through years of trial. I do not criticise holding a high standard 
for results; I am of the opinion that American teachers of school 
gardening would do well to have a higher standard for visible results 
than they have had; but I do criticise emphasizing the perfection of 
the vegetable at the expense of the growth of the child. Ruskin states 
this well when he says : " The imperative demand for finish is ruinous 
because it refuses better things than finish." 

WESTFIELD COUNCIL SCHOOL, WOKING, SURREY. 

This condition does not prevail at all the schools. A notable ex- 
ception is the Westfield Council School at Woking (fig. 13), Mr. 

204 



31 



J. W. Marsh, master. With the quiet, effective persistency of the 
Englishman, in this secluded spot Mr. Marsh is studying and work- 
ing out child development in a manner equal to many well-known 
educators of the day whose fortune has thrown them into more promi- 
nent fields. The garden plats are similar to those found throughout 
the county of Surrey, as there are certain regulations each school 
must follow. The class is restricted to fourteen boys above the age 
of 11, and the planting scheme is similar throughout, lie has 
varied his gardens by the use of different fertilizers on each plat 
through several years, so that the boys learn first hand the best fer- 
tilizer for different crops. He is far in advance in the connection of 




Fig. 14. — Observatory in garden, showing sundial, barometer, rain gauge, bird boxes, and 
signpost showing direction of neighboring villages. Note standard roses grafted by 
the boys. 

the garden work with reading, composition, arithmetic, and nature 
study. Then, too, he has flower plats for twelve girls to work on as 
their own during the noontide interval. He said, when interviewed : 
I am encouraging the girls with flower culture at school and at home. I 
give them seeds, plants, and directions for home use. It is not officially recog- 
nized yet, but all legislation must be pushed forward by public opinion and 
therefore can never be in advance of it. Girls' gardens will no doubt be rec- 
ognized in the future, but at present we have not time for an extra subject with 
them. 

NATURE OBSERVATORY. 

There is a small space in the garden, semicircular in shape, known 
as the ''observatory" (fig. 14). Here are thermometer, barometer, 

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32 

rain gauge, insect breeding cages, sundial, bird boxes made by the 
boys, standard roses that have been grafted, and a signpost giving 
the direction and distances of the neighboring villages. From this 
latter the boys map the district to a scale. The older boys take turns 
in making weather observations and daily readings of the thermome- 
ter, barometer, and rain gauge for the rest of the pupils to record in 
their notebooks. But best of all are the experiments in plant life 
conducted here. Many of these require ordinary outdoor conditions 
or they are misleading. An intelligent question put to the teacher 
by any scholar is usually answered by the setting up of an experiment 
in the observatory, where the children may watch its progress and 
solve the question for themselves. Heading follows to fix the infor- 
mation and to supply additional thought. Slight alterations are 
made from year to year in the plan of the garden to bring the garden 
work in touch with arithmetic and mensuration. The report of the 
inspector of Surrey shows that the practical work which is so dear to 
the English is eminently satisfactory. He states : " The soil in this 
new group is an exceedingly sandy loam. The pupils have worked 
with an evident determination to do credit to themselves and they 
have more than succeeded, for in regularity of cropping and cleanliness 
the plats could scarcely be exceeded." This shows that it is possible 
in the hands of a gardener educator to carry on the growth of crops 
and children hand in hand. 

THE COMMON GARDEN PLAT, OXFORDSHIRE. 

While the individual plat is the approved method in most rural 
schools, in some counties a single plat worked by the entire class 
is considered preferable. Successful examples of this method are 
found around Oxford (fig. 15). The education committee of the 
county of Oxfordshire pays the rent for a piece of land 20 rods in 
extent, supplies the seeds, manure, and tools. The teacher receives 
the produce in addition to his pay. The committee of this county is 
economical. The initial cost of establishing a garden is £5, and after 
that an expenditure of 20 to 30 shillings a year is considered sufficient. 
It is not sufficient, however, as tools were lacking at many gardens 
and the teachers were supplying the deficiency from their small 
salaries of £90 to £120 a year. 

ALLOTMENT GARDENS. 

i 

The wages of the agricultural laborer of this county is 14 shillings 
a week. He adds to his income by cultivating a piece of land which 
he can rent, usually from the parish council. The council rents the 
land from a landholder and sublets it in plats of 10 square rods at 
5 pence a rod per year. This stretch of land is known as a " village 

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33 

allotment.'" The school garden is located in the allotment and serves 
as an example to the villagers for best cultural methods and best 
varieties of crops to be grown. The most striking example of such 
a garden is at Bicester, a few miles from Oxford. The master, an 
enthusiastic gardener, is an active old gentleman of GG. He reached 
the retiring age last year, but his services are so valuable in the com- 
munity that he was asked to continue. In activity of movement and 
speech he seems but half his years. At one time it was feared the 
education committee would discontinue its practice of renting land 
for gardens, so he rented a plat in the allotment, determined that his 




Fig. 15. — Rural school garden at Culham, Oxfordshire. 



boys should have instruction at his own expense. The advantage of 
this form of garden, he thinks, is the opportunity given the boys to 
become acquainted with cultural methods of many crops, his school 
having planted more than forty kinds last summer. Everything 
raised belongs to the master. I remarked upon the value of owner- 
ship in retaining interest, but his experience was not of the kind to 
cause him to agree with me. The English lads return to the garden 
frequently during vacation to water and weed the common garden 
plat. 

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34 

TEACHERS' COURSES AND EXAMINATION. 

The question of teachers fitted to instruct in the subject is as 
troublesome in England as it is here. In some counties teachers are 
given additional salaries if they are capable of giving the instruction. 
This has stimulated many of them to attend evening classes in horti- 
culture or Saturday classes at specified centers, conducted by the 
county agricultural inspector, and then to enter the school-teachers' 
examination in cottage and allotment gardens held in the spring by 
the Royal Horticultural Society. A candidate must pass upon the 
following syllabus, and then will be entitled to additional salary : 

Outline Syllabus. 

(1) Some knowledge of the formation or nature of soils, not necessarily 

scientific, but such as is essential to cultivators. 

(2) Information as to the best average sizes of cottage gardens and allotments 

such as men engaged in diverse vocations can cultivate in spare time. 

(3) Preparation of soils for the reception of crops of all descriptions to insure 

successful results. 

(4) Renovating neglected gardens. 

(5) Manuring soils for diverse crops with some knowledge in practical form of 

the nature of manures and their constituents. 
(G) Spring vegetable crops, varieties and method of cropping, times for manur- 
ing, planting, etc. 
(7) Summer crops — successional. 

(S) Autumn or winter crops for successional purposes. 
(9) General treatment to secure best results for all seasons. 

(10) Suitable fruits for cottage gardens; varieties, methods of culture, pruning, 

and training; general treatment. 

(11) Fruits suitable for allotment culture. 

(12) Flowers for cottage gardens, seasons of flowering, methods of propaga- 

tion, etc. 

(13) Flowers suited for allotments, varieties and general culture. 

(14) Window gardening, inside and out. 

HORTICULTURAL COLLEGE, SWANLEY, KENT. 

The Horticultural College at Swanley, Kent, offers probably the 
best. opportunities to women for training in practical gardening and 
in teaching it. This college is of peculiar interest, as its faculty is 
almost wholly women, and all of the outdoor work, that in the green- 
houses and the marketing of produce, is done entirely by women. 
The following statements from the prospectus, of the college give a 
good idea of its aims and the scope of its work : 

The college aims chiefly at giving a thorough systematic training to women 
who wish to become market growers and gardeners in private places, but the 
course is also useful in fitting students to act efficiently as landowners, teachers, 
stewards, and for intending colonists. Attention is naturally given to all sub- 
jects by which horticultural knowledge may be extended, one of the objects of 
the college being to meet the increasing demand for scientific education and 
business training in fruit and flower growing. The teaching is in theoretical 
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35 

and practical work, much stress being laid by lecturers and instructors on the 
due combination and relative proportions <>f the two kinds of work. Special 
care is taken in the elementary training of each student. No gardening opera- 
tion is considered as too menial, the method being that actual work accompanies, 
under skilled supervision, the theoretical instruction. 

There are two courses, (1) the full diploma course and (2) the certificate 
course, each of which may be taken in two years, though students are strongly 
advised to spread the course of study for the diploma over three rather than two 
years. In order to gain either the diploma, which is the highest award of the 
college, or the certificate, students must satisfy the authorities by their general 
conduct, industry, punctuality of attendance, and by their having passed satis- 
factorily through their college career. They must each produce a diary of hor- 
ticultural work performed during that time and make a collection of injurious 
insects and weeds. The examination in practical work is identical for both the 
above courses. 

A third-year course is offered in natural history to those desiring 
to qualify as teachers of gardening and nature study. 

A syllabus of the course for this third year is given below : 

Syllabus of Instruction. 



Students who have attended the college course of instruction in botany, and 
other students who can produce satisfactory evidence of having received a 
similar training, will not he required to take the first section of the following 
syllabus. The subjects of sections 2 and 3 will he treated more fully in the case 
of such students. 
I. General. 

(1) Flowering plants. 

The structure and life history of a flowering plant from seed to seed. 
The morphology of the stem, leaf, and root. Structure of the 
flower, pollination, and fertilization. Fruits and seeds and 
methods of dispersal. The internal structure of the various 
members and organs. 

The functions of the various organs. Nutrition, foods and food 
materials, transpiration, assimilation, respiration, growth, and 
movement. Relation of plant to environment, various modifica- 
tions of water plants, marsh plants, heath plants, etc. 

The general classification of flowering plants. 

The (iymnosperms : Structure and life history of the Scotch fir, and 
comparison with some common conifers. 

(2) Flowerless plants. 

(a) The ferns and their allies, as exemplified by the male fern, horse- 

tail, and club moss. Common British ferns. 

(b) The mosses and liverworts. — Fife histories of some typical mem- 

bers of these groups and identification of common and char- 
acteristic mosses and liverworts. 

(c) The seaweeds and their allies. — Fife histories of a number of 

fresh-water and marine algae. Identification of some common 
seaweeds and confervas. 

(d) The fungi. — Molds, mildews, mushrooms, and other parasitic and 

saprophytic fungi. 

(e) The slime fungi. — Life history of Badhamia. Character of the 

fructification of common Myxomycetes. 
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36 

II. Special. 

(3) Principal orders of British flowering plants. 
Identification of plants by means of floras. 

Study in the different seasons of the plant associations of selected 
localities. Common trees and shrubs — identification in winter 
and summer. 
Practical experimental physiology. 

ZOOLOGY. 

I. General. 

Study of the external characters, anatomical structure, mode of life 
and life history of the following animals, as representatives of the 
principal divisions of the animal kingdom : Rabbit, pigeon, frog, 
dogfish or haddock, honeybee, crayfish, earthworm, pond mussel, 
hydra, vorticella, amoeba, together with the general characters of 
the protozoa, porifera, coelenterata, annelida, arthropoda, mollusca, 
chorda ta. 

II. Special. 

Distinctive features of rabbit, dog, mole, etc., as representatives of 
indigenous orders of mammals. British birds, their notes and 
habits. Common insects. Useful and injurious insects. Hatch- 
ing and rearing of larva?. Aquatic insects and larvae — their adapta- 
tion to their mode of life. Management of aquaria. 

GEOLOGY AND PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 

I. General. 

(1) The crust of the earth. The classification of rocks. 

Physical characters and chemical composition of the principal rock- 
forming minerals. 
Study of typical British aqueous, igneous, and inetamorphic rocks. 

(2) Subaerial and marine denudation. Formation of soils. Structure 

of sedimentary rock masses. Nature and mode of preservation 
of fossils. Use of fossils in classification of rocks. 

(3) Volcanic action and volcanoes. Volcanic and plutonic rocks. 

Lavas. Contact metamorphism. Regional metamorphism. Min- 
eral veins and metallic ores. 

(4) The atmosphere: Rainfall, springs, rivers, glaciers. 

II. Special. 

The geological structure of the British Isles and their physical geog- 
raphy. 
Chronological classification of strata and characteristic fossils of 
British formations. Use and interpretation of geological maps 
and sections. 
Simple land surveying; mapping of small areas. 
Simple astronomy. 

The earth as a planet. The solar system. The celestial globe, the 
principal constellations. The moon and tides. 
Meteorology. 

The atmosphere, its composition and extent. 

Temperature of the air. — Causes of variations in temperature. Ther- 
mometers and thermographs. Solar and terrestrial radiation. 
Pressure of the air. — The barometer and barograph. Variations in 

pressure. Winds. 
Moisture of the air.— Hygrometers. Condition of formation of dew, 

fog, mist, cloud, rain, hail, and snow. 
Weather charts, etc. — Interpretation of charts. Use of meteorological 
instruments. Making and recording weather observations. 
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37 

GARDENING. 

(This is only intended for those who have not passed through the college 
training.) 

Cultural operations. — Use of garden tools and preparation of soils. Eradi- 
cation of weeds. Care of pot plants. Watering. 
Propagative operations. — Seed sowing, thinning, and transplanting. Cut- 
tings, layers, etc. Budding and grafting. 
Pruning of fruit trees, bush fruits, and roses. 
Culture of some common vegetables and of flowers. 

SUMMER COURSES. 

In addition to its regular course, Swanley offers a vacation course 
of two weeks which includes, besides garden lectures and demonstra- 
tions, outdoor work in plant life, plant geography, pond life, insects, 
birds, geology, and astronomy. 

Some of the agricultural colleges conduct teachers' courses in gar- 
dening and nature study, notably Wye College, in Kent, and the 
Midland Agricultural College, in Leicestershire. Short vacations are 
the rule in England. The month of August is the usual vacation 
period. The length of the vacation period, four weeks, is never ex- 
ceeded, but the time of the holiday in some counties depends upon the 
crop to be harvested, for child labor is important in the hop and pea 
districts. Colleges therefore regulate their course by the vacation. 
Usually two courses are given, each of two weeks duration, one for 
men and one for women. 

When one considers the short vacation and that the large majority 
of the teachers are men supporting families on hopelessly small 
salaries, the attendance at the summer courses is phenomenal and 
predicts much for the future of English agriculture. 

204 

O 



LIST OF PUBLICATIONS OF THE OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS ON 
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION-Continued. 

separates — continued. 

Statistics of Land-grant Colleges and Agricultural Experiment Stations. 1904. Com- 
piled by Marie T. Spethmann. l'p. 203-235. Reprinted from Annual Report of 

Office of Experiment Stations for 1004. 
Progress in Agricultural Education, 1004. By A. C. True. Pp. 575-616. Reprinted 

from Annual Report of Office of Experiment Stations- for 1904. 
County Schools of Agriculture in Wisconsin. By K. C. Davis. Pp. 677-686. Reprinted 

from Annual Report of Office of Experiment Stations for 1004. 
The Use of Illustrative Material in Teaching Agriculture in Rural Schools. By Dick J. 

Crosby. Pp. 257-274. Reprinted from Yearbook of Department of Agriculture for 

1905. 
Progress in Agricultural Education. 1905. By A. C. True. l'p. 303-357. Reprinted 

from Annual Report of Office of Experiment Stations for 1905. 
Courses in Agriculture, Horticulture, and Allied Subjects. By F. W. Rane. l'p. 77-89. 

Reprinted from Office of Experiment Stations Bulletin 164. 
Introduction of Elementary Agriculture into Schools. By A. C. True. Pp. 151-164. 

Reprinted from Yearbook of Department of Agriculture for 1006. 
Progress in Agricultural Education, 1906. By Dick J. Crosby. Pp. 213-300. Reprinted 

from Annual Report of Office of Experiment Stations for 1906. 
Training Courses for Teachers of Agriculture. By Dick J. Crosby. Pp. 207-220. Reprinted 

from Yearbook of Department of Agriculture for 1907. 
Progress in Agricultural Education, 1907. By Dick .T. Crosby. Pp. 237-306. Reprinted 

from Annual Report of Office of Experiment Stations for 1907. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

The American System of Agricultural Education. By A. C. True and Dick J. Crosby. 

Doc. No. 706. Pp. 21. 
Description of Exhibit of Colleges of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts and Experiment 

Stations, Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis, Mo.. 1904. By TV. II. Beal. 

Doc. No. 710. Pp. 23. 
Institutions in the United States Giving Instruction in Agriculture. Doc. No. 1110. 

Pp. 9. 

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